Friday Fun Day
Friday Feb, 21st
The morning began around 9 AM – well I had gotten up early,
like 5:30 AM and had cleaned up, tried to rinse off my body with the hose, and
gotten dressed for the day. When I came
out of the bathroom, sweet Benny Michael was sitting on the bed with a sleepy
look on his face. Five minutes later he
was dressed and we were playing with cars and cleaning and organizing for our
day.
I am not sure if I had noted this before, Benny Michael has
been eating and drinking like a champ – whole glasses of water, every fruit and
veggie under the sun, and he loves bread.
This morning he was eating bowls full of trail mix and drink water
flavored with mio and playing with his metal cars. Once Paul was up, we joined Fr. Michael at
breakfast and headed out around Masaka.
His parish is having a huge party, and a high school that
Fr. Michael has supported is bringing two buses of kids and they will come and
do service projects and then feast afterwards.
So we went to the Masaka Market and walked around shopped for heads of
cabbage, cooking oil, potatoes, rice, pineapple and more. Right in the middle of the market is a very
large dump, where some people just seem to dump their garbage, and other people
seem to scavenge through it. In the
midst of the dump is about 20 marabou storks walking around eating whatever
they see fit to.
We then went in to the bank, talked to the radio stations
that posted announcements about Michael’s abandonment, went into the clinic
that treated Michael to make an appointment for a consult. After all of that, we started the long drive
to Father Michael’s parish.
Now when you see movies about Africa, this landscape that
you see, the small hills, the waving grass, the marshes lined with papyrus, the
low brush, and even types of trees, is what you see on the drive to his
parish. Lush, green, simple. The dirt paths were rocky, huge divets and
holes are everywhere, every plant on the side of the roads were covered in
thick red dust. I joked with Father and
asked him when Nap was going to get out there with his tractor to fill all of
the holes with sand. Nap had kept
commenting before on how if he could only get a few different types of tractors
our here and rock and sand, we could have awesome roads, flat, smooth and
level. If any road needs it, this would
be third on my list.
His parish is beautiful.
There are several priests there, a lot of workers, a tiny little convent
with 4 cute little Daughters of Mary. We
had a tour of the campus, walked through the acres of coffee plants, banana and
plantain trees. We saw the priest
quarters, the chicken coups, the medical clinic, the room where Fr. George
makes wine, the parish halls and so much more.
The humble little clinic was ery sad, no electricity, an almost bare
pharmacy, ancient tables and chairs. The
nurses were kind and joyful, commenting on how they do what they can with the
little they have, but any big situation requires Father (who has the only
vehicle in the area) to drive the sick/ill/pregnant woman/man/child to the
bigger hospital about 10 miles away, which could take around 30 minutes
depending on the rain and road conditions.
When we were done with the tour, a group of P4 kids (9-10
year olds) came up to us and sang some songs and then were given the
opportunity to ask us some questions. I had warned Paul that Father will throw
you under the bus in a moment’s notice and he would need to be prepared to
speak or address any crowd he feels like introducing us to; “Here are my great
friends from the United States that want to address you today…”
Questions the school
children asked:
What do you eat? Everything you do, fruits, veggies,
chicken, etc.
What do you drive? (The most popular car company here is
Toyota) we have Toyotas, Mercedez, everything that you have – trucks, vans,
cars, boda bodas, etc.
What is the weather like?
Try explaining snow and ice to someone that has never seen or touch it
Do kids wear shoes to school? Yep. This got a huge amount of laughter, as all of
their feet are bare and covered in thick red dust.
Why is your skin that color? God made us that way
Can I touch your skin? Of course (and when she did, she
knelt down to her knees as a sign of reverence, and touched me as though she
might get burned.)
How can we grow up and be just like you? You must pray often, work hard in school,
obey your mother and father, and love and serve the Lord.
Paul then passed out Dum Dums, and the kids were
ecstatic. It was great. We took the back roads home, and on the way,
something crazy happened. Well not
funny. Horribly sad. Normally children run up to the truck and you
pass out candy to them. Well, Father
Michael slowed down to a group of children, and when Paul rolled down the
window, the children saw a white man, which they probably had never seen, and
they took of screaming. I had never seen
children bolt like that – well not since the same thing happened in November,
2012 to Nap.
In Africa, armies have been made up of drugged up and
tortured children abducted from schools, villages, and orphanages for
years. Parents warn them of people
trying to trick them with candy in order to steal them away. Each morning while watching the news, there
will be a story about a body found used for voo-doo witch craft sacrifice, or a
child missing from a popular village with a heavy pagan core. In fact there was just an article in the
paper about two teenage girls who had been missing after school, but were now
found dead, with black candles and razor blades and acid placid methodically
around their positioned bodies – Satanists are blamed for their deaths.
Albino children are the least protected. An albino’s skin and bones are believed to
have mystical powers, much like tiger teeth or other animal body parts in China. When an albino is born, parents are told it
is bad luck to them, and that they should sell the child. They get paid almost 3 years worth of salary
if they are willing to dispose of the baby. If they actually want to keep the
baby, the risk to the family and the child goes up every day that the child is
alive. Albinos over the age of 2 or 3
are extremely rare to see, although it is not an extremely rare issue in
Uganda.
We headed home so that Michael could take a nap, which
turned into Paul napping and mommy and Benny Michael playing soccer in the
courtyard. The courtyard is very secure
– barbed wire covers the roofs and compound walls. Glass shards stuck in concrete and wrought
iron spikes are around the perimeter.
The grassy area is the perfect reprieve for a sweet little boy, who is
used to being left to his own devices for much of the day, for most of his
life. He can run for hours with that
soccer ball. Sometimes he looks like
Kolbe with his high dimples when he tries to meg me. Sometimes he looks like Matt – after a huge
kick, going down on one knee in almost an Iron Man or karate master pose – knee
down, head down, a hand on the ground, and one straight out in front of
him. When he walks around, and he is
excited, he walks like he has some of Father Michael’s swag, bobbing his head,
swinging his arms.
Around 4 PM, Father Michael picked us up and took us to the
clinic that has treated Benny Michael all of his life. The head nurse helped Father figure out Benny’s
medical and nutritional needs. The
doctor came rushing every time Michael had a fever and would then have a
fibrial seizure (which was often because he has had malaria 4 times.) He reviewed Michael’s seasonal asthma issues
which I had known about and brought a nebulizer for. No allergies, weird rashes, or major diseases
or disabilities. He said that he thinks
that Benny Michael’s lack of speech is from a lack of socialization and that a
speech therapist can help us with this.
He then took a moment to write all of these things down for us, so we
could bring it home and present it to his pediatrician there. What a huge blessing. Some parents adopting their children right
now have no idea who raised and helped their children during their first years. I saw Michael’s paperwork, all paper clipped
together, wrinkled and worn from years of use, and felt truly blessed for this
special gift. Please keep up the prayers
because they are truly helping.
After the appointment, we headed to see a woman named Maria
who used to work with Anawim, and at the Delta serving as Father Michael’s
secretary. She left recently because she
is very pregnant, due the end of March maybe.
I had gone shopping for her in the US and brought her a whole suitcase
of clothes, a six pack of onesies in every size from birth to 1 year, a diaper
bag, baby toys, blankets, a sling, vitamins, etc. She seemed to be in good spirits and it was
greet being able to see her and catch up on things. She suddenly seemed so youthful, vibrant and
unsure of her future – laughing and giggling, and loud. I was startled by this transformation from
the quiet and confident Maria that I knew before. Pregnancy hormones and concerns change you
though, everything you think you knew flies out the window, and suddenly you
are worried about the most inane things, like how to fold baby clothes that are
so small. I am so excited for this new
road that she is on and I will probably be here when she has it so I told her
that I would come and take pictures of her and her little newborn. Life is such
a gift.
On a side note, while we were at dinner, one of the hotel
waitresses came in and showed us the official announcement of Benny Michael’s
adoption in the local newspaper. It
basically read that he was going to be adopted if nobody came forward in the
next week to claim him. The picture of
him is one that I have had on my computer for years – a huge face and smile,
tiny legs, and stick arms beating the top of a drum. I was mildly disturbed by seeing it – knowing
that it was fair and needed, but wondering if someone would come forward in the
next week. They had done this in
previous years, just to try and find his mom, and nobody had ever stepped
forward, but seeing it in the paper today upset me. I will try and get a copy to put in his baby
book.
Notes from my prayer
journal: It is different, being here
and the trip not solely being an Anawim trip.
This was an adoption trip with my husband, to show him the country, and
to do what needed to be done in the 2 weeks that we are here together. It is a bonding trip for all of us, Paul and
I and the different methods to our madness complimenting each other in new and
difficult or different situations. I
also saw this as the perfect opportunity to focus on God and His Will for my
life during this new journey. I came
prepared for a spiritual battle, and it is proving to be just that – me
reigning in my motions and searching for pace and contentment every chance that
I can get.
“Now ask and keep on asking and
you will received, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and
complete.”
-John 16:24
Soundtrack song of the day: I was missing my children especially today,
and normally when I am at home, and I am cuddling with Anna, I will turn to her
and say, “Oh Banana bread, I am so lucky that God gave me you. Why did God do that? And she will normally reply with a line from
the Blake Shelton Song, “God gave me you.”
I had the original version by someone else, but the one on the radio is
the one she will recognize and yell, “Mommy, it is our song.”
God gave me you –
Blake Shelton
Consecration to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Louis's Influence on the Church, Day 2
Consecration to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Louis's Influence on the Church, Day 2
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